Most of the time, app updates are for drastic design changes or bug fixes. They are used to make the user experience a little better, and both Android and Apple do a good job of letting people know when they need to update their apps on app store.

However, when you see an update to one of your phone’s app, this means that the developer submitted it to the app store.

This means that sometimes you’ll have to resubmit your own app. Some changes don’t require a resubmission, while others do.

Are you aware of when you should or should not make a new submission to the app stores?

Keep reading for a list of times you need to submit, along with some of the modifications you make that don’t require any action.

Important: When you resubmit the app to one of the app stores, all of your users will have to update the app before seeing any of the changes on their own phone.

When Will You Need to Resubmit Your App to the App Store?

When You Make Changes to Your Splash Screen

The splash screen is one of the areas that show up once a user lands on your app. It also reveals itself for a moment when users switch from screen to screen. So if they click on a tab, the second in which it takes to transfer them to the new page will reveal the splash screen. Many companies change this around to reflect new promotional information, or simply when they have decided to modify their branding strategy.

If you make a change to your splash screen, the app must be resubmitted.

When You Add or Remove GPS/Push Notifications

Some of the same GPS and push notifications are constantly sent on a regular basis, but if you come up with a new one, an updated is needed. Therefore, whenever you think about removing or including a push notification, consider quickly updating the app before you start sending out those notifications.

When You Modify the App Icon or App Name

You probably won’t change the name of your mobile app often, but sometimes a name pivot is required, especially if you start offering a completely new product or service. In this case, a resubmit is needed.

On the other hand, modifying the app icon is more common, considering icons can become outdated. Therefore, we recommend instantly submitting the entire app to the store for this icon change to be reflected.

When is it Not Required to Resubmit to the App Store?

When You Change the Background in Your App

The background is an item that it constantly changing, and all of those modifications are reflected regardless of a resubmission.

When Button Titles or Button Images are Modified

Developers configure buttons all the time. It would be unrealistic for the app stores to expect a resubmission whenever this happened.

When You Add Songs or Photos

Adding some type of media to your mobile app? Don’t worry about it, because your users can view it regardless of whether or not you resubmit.

When You Make Changes to Text in the HTML Widget

The HTML widget isn’t used much by beginners, but more advanced users can rest easy knowing changes are reflected immediately.

When You Add a New Feature in Your Mobile App

As with buttons, developers are always adding or removing new features.

When You Change the Functionality of a Button or Tab

By this we mean when you take a tab that once lead to a submission form and change the link to lead to a gallery, or something like that. The functionality of each tab changes quite a bit, so the app stores don’t expect you to keep resubmitting.

What Did You Learn?

Are you certain that all of your app updates are being seen by your users? If not, bookmark this list to ensure that your app is constantly refreshed and viewed as the most recent version. If you have any questions about this, drop us a line in the comments section below.